2021年6月3日 · On December 7, 1941, Japanese destroyers shelled the facilities at Naval Air Station Midway. By June 1942, PBY Catalinas and B-17s were stationed on Midway, along with 4,000 American personnel. The five-day battle, fought from June 3-7, 1942, encompassed an area the size of the contiguous United States.

Top Image: The USS Yorktown is hit on the port side by a torpedo launched from a plane off the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. (Image: National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-414423.)

The Battle of Midway. The Battle of Midway was one of the most important naval battles of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. It was fought between the U.S. and Japanese navies June 4-7, 1942. This battle turned the tide of the war in the Pacific in favor of the Americans.

Often overshadowed by the Battle of Midway, the hard-fought carrier naval battle in May 1942 in the waters of the Coral Sea north of Australia marked the end of the phase of Japanese triumphs in the Pacific War and proved to be of strategic significance.

Midway’s strategic significance was not lost to either American or Japanese planners. Both considered what a conflict with the other might entail. In 1938, the Navy began dredging a channel between Eastern and Sand islands, and constructed an air base on Eastern Island and sub and seaplane facilities on Sand. In June 1942, the war came to Midway.

In early May 1942, US and Japanese carrier forces clashed in the Battle of the Coral Sea. While both sides suffered major losses, the US Navy checked a major Japanese offensive for the first time. Then, in the Battle of Midway the following month, US carrier aircraft dealt a devastating blow to the Japanese navy, destroying four aircraft carriers.

Just six months after Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy suffered a shocking defeat at the battle of Midway in June 1942. US dive-bombers destroyed four of Japan’s precious aircraft carriers (out of six), and for the time being, at least, Japanese naval power was broken.

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After the US strategic victories at the Battles of the Coral Sea (May 7–8, 1942) and Midway (June 4–7, 1942), the Japanese Imperial Navy was no longer capable of major offensive campaigns, which permitted the Allies to start their own offensive in the Pacific.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was sturdy enough for pilots to dive at a near-vertical 80 degrees. The US Navy’s primary dive-bomber at the war’s start, the bomber earned its reputation—and helped earn victory—at the 1942 Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese carriers.